Marathon Encore: Notes From the Back-to-Back

Last week, 29,025 runners finished the Boston Marathon 2026. This past Sunday, 58,051 finished the record-breaking London Marathon. About 1,274 people finished both.Let that sit for a moment. Two marathons. Two continents. Seven days.I know what that feels like. And I even had one more day in between.Eight Days, Two MarathonsAfter a cancelled 2020 season and a COVID-19-induced DNS in the spring of 2021, 2022 was planned to be the comeback year. I had registered for the Berlin Marathon 2022, a known fast course and the place where I had run my previous marathon best in 2017.At the same time, I wanted to continue my Six-Star Journey. Having tried the lottery for London for several years, I finally bit the bullet and contacted a travel agency to book the 2022 race.Now, in 2022, the pandemic had shifted the London Marathon from its usual April date to early October. In my mind, there were three weeks between Berlin and London: “Berlin is mid-September, London is early October; that makes…